Human
by LizzyLucky
Summary: Taking place just after Season Four, Zane finds himself struggling to complete a move during a training session. The result: Injury. And it looks painful. But what does that matter? Zane's just a machine. He can't get hurt. Or, at least, that's what he's gotten into his head. With help from Kai, Zane must re-learn that he's not just a robot, and that worrying is okay. Can he do it?


Right, so, this is my first one-shot. You have to understand something though, so **listen up! Very important** : This is not the first place I posted this one-shot. I have a one-shots collection in which this is the first chapter. The first one-shot. (Kinda long, but whatever.) The thing is, that I keep updating this collection, and the update date is not updating! It reads the same date as when I first published, for every single time that I update. I have some good stuff in there, and no one is seeing it! So, if you like this story, then please, find and read my collection! And help me get FanFiction's attention so we can get this problem fixed! I already hate having to deal with this problem myself, thus why I also publish my one-shots individually as well as in the collection, and I would hate for others to have to deal with the same thing. It's a bit frustrating. To further tempt you, if you like my writing style, I do actually take one-shot requests! However, they have to be requested within the one-shot collection. If you're having trouble finding the collection, that's one thing, but you should be able to find it by either looking it up ("Human - One-Shots Collection") or going to my profile. Either way, good deal! Please!

Anyway, I hope you like this one-shot, and let me know what you think of it. Thanks, guys!

-LizzyLucky

* * *

He crouched low, shuriken in hand. Viewing his targets, he looked left, then right, then left again. Taking one last look upward, he sprinted forward and sprung himself into the air. Up, up, up, and at the perfect height now, he drew his arm back, prepared to strike. One to his left, one to his right, and one right below him. He leaned forward and did a quick flip. As he drew closer to the ground, he kicked his legs in opposite directions, each smashing into one of his targets, and whipped his arm downwards, hitting his mark dead on and landing stealthily on his feet. Then, a massive bag of sand began to loose from above him. Just before it fell, he did a shoulder roll to the left, just barely missing it and sliding easily into a standing position.

Or, at least, that's what was _supposed_ to happen.

In reality, not any one of the three target boards had broken during his practice session. Zane had to admit defeat as he called for his brother's help, dangling upside down from the rope which was supposed to be holding a bag of sand for training.

"I told you, Zane! You shouldn't have even been training today!" Cole said, folding his arms in that 'I-told-you-so' manner.

"And I already told you that I'm not tired. Just because we were busy so late last night, doesn't mean I'm too tired to be training." Zane said.

"You're just too proud to admit it." Cole countered.

"If you say so." Zane said, pulling his upper body up to start untying his tangled leg.

"Lower the ropes so I don't fall." He said, turning toward Cole.

The rusty pulley squealed as it released the ropes suspending Zane, who landed gently on his back.

"Thank you." Zane said, nodding to Cole, who beamed.

"Why don't you just call it quits already? I think your training has done more damage to you than to the equipment!" He said, offering a hand to Zane. Zane accepted and pulled himself back onto his feet.

It had been a little ridiculous to watch that morning. For whatever reason, the Nindroid just couldn't seem to get through this move. He'd done it dozens of times before in battle and training, but he and the ninja had been out extra late the night before and now that he was up, he couldn't seem to get it quite right. The first time he tried it, he flipped too quickly and ended up landing on his back instead of his feet. After that, he slipped whilst trying to roll away from the falling sandbag, which landed on him as a result. Then another time when he'd simply stepped on his own foot when trying to leap up for the flip, and he face-planted the deck, not even making it an inch into the air. Then after that, his entire move had been shifted to the left, and his foot missed one of the targets altogether, basically jerking his whole body in the wrong direction. And all of that wasn't even the half of it! This time, he'd jumped up and lost his concentration, so he flipped in the wrong direction and got his leg tangled up in the ropes holding up the sand bag. To put it simply, his training session was not going quite as planned.

"I don't have anything else to do right now. I would rather be training than doing nothing."

"You could, I dunno, come hang out with us. I mean, when's the last time we all played a good video game? Or watched a movie? Or you could always go back to trying new recipes. Even playing with your falcon!" Cole listed, pacing back and forth as he did so.

"I… suppose. But what good would it do? You never know if Ninjago will be attacked again. We need to be prepared."

"Yeah, we do, but it doesn't do you any good to exhaust yourself with training either."

"But I'm not exhausting myself." Zane said simply. Without letting Cole respond, he turned around and began to re-set up the training equipment he'd knocked over in his morning clumsiness. Cole sighed and walked back to his spot by the door where he'd been watching Zane train. Though he wouldn't admit it, he couldn't find much he wanted to do either. At one point he even considered joining Zane, but dropped the idea quickly because he was tired.

There was a Serpentine attack last night in one of the villages near Ninjago City. He and the other ninja had been fighting until almost one in the morning. They didn't get home until almost two hours later, and at that point, most of them couldn't even get to sleep properly until maybe an hour before they would normally get up anyway. Naturally, this meant that most of everyone was still in bed. Everyone, that is, except for Zane and Cole. They'd been up a few hours, and were expecting that everyone else would be waking soon too, just as sore and as exhausted.

Zane's training went on the same way pretty much the rest of the morning. Slipping, tripping, overshooting, undershooting, and missing the targets in general. At this point, he'd become so frustrated at himself for not concentrating that he was too concentrated on trying to concentrate that he couldn't concentrate.

(If that even makes sense...)

Cole had eventually lost interest in watching and chatting with him and left to get some breakfast. Zane, of course, did not.

As another hour went by, Zane saw the rest of Destiny's Bounty's inhabitants pass by the door, sleepy eyed and yawning. Even by then, he'd not completed the move successfully.

"Move forward, stand straight, only put 85% power into the flip, don't forget to roll to the side…" He listed to himself as he prepared to reperform the move.

"What are you doing? It's almost noon, have you even eaten yet?" A voice said from the doorway. Zane stopped muttering and turned to see Kai, leaning against the door frame and giving him a confused look.

"No, I have not eaten anything. But once I am able to perform the move successfully…" Zane trailed off.

"From what Cole says, it sounds like you ought to just be done. Why are you even training today anyway?"

"I need to be prepared in case something happens. Another Serpentine attack, for example."

"Zane, it was a small band of rebel snakes still mad at the 'surface dwellers.' The rest of the Serpentine are peaceful. And besides, today's _supposed_ to be our day off. I don't want to see you over-exert yourself."

Zane paused for a moment. Then turned reluctantly back to the training equipment.

"I just need to get through this move is all. Then I'll take a break." He promised.

"Okay…" Kai fell quiet and watched Zane as he double checked the ropes holding up the sand bag.

"So what move exactly are you trying to do?" He asked after a moment.

Zane answered by backing up a few steps and running forward, before leaping into the air. He drew his arm back once more, and leaned forward into the flip. He stuck his feet out to hit the target boards on either side of him, then brought his arm down. Maybe he'd get it this time!

He hit the outer ring of the target on the ground, then began to lean into a shoulder roll.

As luck would have it, his hand got in the way on the ground and he rolled over it, halting himself mid-roll and rolling backwards. His first thought was to get out of the way of the sandbag and he stood up to do just that. But he was a little too slow. The bag began to fall, and he grabbed the other end of the rope to keep it from hitting the ground.

About 30 seconds later, Zane was on the floor underneath the sand bag, one leg caught in the other end of the rope, and Kai was stood in the corner of the room laughing and trying to apologize at the same time.

"Are you okay, Zane?" He asked between chuckles.

"Why would I not be?" Zane asked in all seriousness. No sarcasm lacing his voice at all.

He yanked an arm out from underneath himself and used it to push himself onto his side, effectively rolling the sandbag off of himself. He stood up and walked calmly to the pulley again, grabbing hold of the rope and giving it a good tug to upright the bag on the ground.

As soon as he started pulling to re-suspend it, he hissed and let go of the rope, the bag landing with a * _thump!*_

"Something wrong?" Kai asked.

Zane looked down at his hands in confusion. There were marks running across them, like a rope burn. Since when did such injuries leave marks on him?

He figured it was a false pain, nothing more than a memory of what it used to feel like. He was an android, after all.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He said. He grabbed the rope again, pulling on it and lifting the bag back into the air. He tied it tightly and ignored the slight throb of his hands.

Walking back to his starting spot, he prepared to attempt the move again. Kai sighed, watching him work.

Another ten minutes passed, and Kai watched as Zane messed something up on the same move almost a dozen times. Is this what he'd been doing all morning? For hours?

"Hey, Zane, why don't you just call it a day and come hang out with the rest of us?" He asked.

Zane almost chuckled. What Kai had said sounded somewhat reminiscent of what Cole had said earlier.

"I just need to get through this move. I promise I'll be done when it's completed successfully." He said, setting up the equipment for the umpteenth time.

"I'm worried you'll hurt yourself. It's bound to happen eventually."

"No kidding!" A third voice added from the doorway. Cole stood there once again, this time holding a half-eaten chocolate donut.

"I won't damage myself." Zane said confidently. He was careful and precise, there was no reason a bot like him couldn't get through such a simple move without getting hurt.

Before either of the two could say anything, Zane went immediately back to his spot, preparing once more to perform the move.

He did a short dash forward, leapt up, and drew his arm back, leaning forward slightly as he did so.

Just before he could flip, the alarms began to go off. Bright, flashing red and white lights, and a loud alarm that echoed around his head.

Kai and Cole ran out of the room without hesitation, the door slamming into the wall as they went. Zane, surprised by the noise, missed his chance to flip and flailed his arms as he fell straight down.

Unfortunately for him, he landed on his left side, arm folded under him. There was a sickening crunch and the screech of metal on metal as the shuriken he was holding was flipped inward toward his stomach.

He let out a grunt of pain and gasped. Sitting up, he was suddenly unable to keep hold of his shuriken, the weapon staying stuck in the wood. He looked at his hand, at his wrist, and flinched as he realized that it was _not_ supposed to look like that. There were several wires sticking out, and some of the metal had been torn through because of how far his hand had been bent inward, lying practically flat against his forearm. A few of the wires had been snapped in half and he could feel his whole arm tingle, almost going numb.

The alarms suddenly shut off and he could hear Jay down the hall yell, "False alarm!"

"Ah, really Jay?" Cole shouted. Zane could practically _feel_ Cole rolling his eyes and throwing his arms up.

"Let's go back and tell Zane. I don't know if he heard Jay." Kai's voice said. He sounded just as annoyed. Jay laughed nervously in the background.

"Yeah, whatever. Sensei wanted me to tell him that he needed to take a break and eat anyway." Cole agreed.

"Really?" Kai asked, sounding skeptical.

"Yes, really! Honestly, Zane's really mature and selfless and all, but sometimes he can be _so_ like a child. Sensei shouldn't have to send someone to remind him that he's supposed to eat."

"Wow…" Jay agreed.

"Hey! Don't think this conversation is over! 'False alarm…' Humph!" Cole grouched.

Their footsteps drew closer to the door and Zane almost panicked. If they knew he'd hurt himself, they'd freak out! And over something like the alarm? How could he let his guard down? If he'd been in battle, he'd likely be dead! He can't let something like the alarm startle him enough for him to be injured.

Looking around him, he saw his jacket, which he quickly leaned over to and grabbed. He pulled it quickly over his arms and used the sleeves to hide the wires sticking out. He could take care of it himself later.

Just as he was pulling the zipper up, Kai and Cole walked in, one after the other.

"Hey, Zane, it was just a false alarm. Nothing to worry about." Cole said. They froze when they saw him on the ground, now wearing a jacket and awkwardly holding his left arm.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Cole asked.

"I… thought we were going to have to go." He said, trying, barely convincingly, to explain the jacket.

"Oh. Okay. Well, we're not going anywhere. You got that move down?" Kai asked.

"No, not yet. But I was thinking that maybe I _should_ take a break." Zane replied distractedly. He looked to the side, avoiding their gazes.

"What happened to 'after I finish this move?'" Kai asked. Zane couldn't think of a proper response. He remained silent and pulled his arm in closer. Kai squinted his eyes.

"What are you hiding?" He asked without a second thought.

"I'm not hiding anything, Kai." Zane said. He began to grow nervous, afraid they'd find out about his wrist and turn it into a big deal. He hated being the center of attention when it came to being hurt. Whether it be emotionally or physically. If he was ever sad, he would only cry when he was alone. If he was ever injured, he would only treat it when he was alone. Or, now that he was a full-on android, he would only repair damage dealt him when he was alone. Very rarely did he like to depend on others. He didn't like showing his hurt.

"Like I'm going to believe that. Come on, Zane, I've known you for years. What's up?" Kai turned his head in curiosity.

"It doesn't matter."

"What? Of course it matters." Kai said, beginning to sound worried.

"Here, you know what, let's just go get some food, okay? Sensei's orders. We'll help you finish up this move later. And hey, maybe by then you'll be able to do it easy!" Cole said, breaking apart the argument before it could really start.

Kai nodded, but Zane shook his head.

"I'm not hungry." He said. He looked back down to the ground and remained sitting.

Kai sighed. He and Cole shared a look. After a moment, Kai thought of an idea and walked over to the ice ninja on the floor, offering him a hand.

"Come on, then. If you're not going to keep training, we can always find something else for you to do."

Zane looked at him, apparently not expecting to have been made such an offer.

"I suppose that would be wisest." He said, extending his uninjured hand and accepting Kai's.

Kai, however, surprised him by moving his hand out of the way and rushing to grab Zane's _other_ hand.

"Wha- Ow!" Zane yelped as Kai took firm hold of his wrist.

"Aha! 'It doesn't matter?' Really, Zane? What'cha do, sprain your wrist?" Kai exclaimed, shaking his head. He grabbed the sleeve of Zane's jacket and began to roll it up, revealing a wrist in a condition much worse than a sprain.

"Yikes! Zane, why didn't you say something?!" Kai knelt down by Zane, alarm and worry mixing very harshly in his voice. Cole ran over, a sort of curiosity showing in his movements.

"It's not that bad. I can take care of it." Zane said nonchalantly.

"What? Zane, it's _really_ bad!" Kai exclaimed.

"But it's-"

"You know what, don't even argue right now. Stand up, we need to get that wrist taken care of." Kai demanded. He sounded almost angry, but Zane knew he was just worrying.

Kai had been through enough in his short life, losing both parents and having to act as one for his sister. He was protective and fierce when it came to the physical and/or mental state of anyone even remotely close to him. And Zane, easily, was much, much more than 'remotely' close to him.

Zane reluctantly lifted his right hand up, Kai grabbing it and pulling him to his feet.

Now, what if I told you Zane's day was about to get worse? A lot worse? You thought that wrist was something, did you?

As Zane was pulled so quickly and suddenly to his feet, he surprised himself by letting out a sharp gasp, then a short cry. He surprised himself further when he found his legs buckling beneath him and he collapsed to the floor. He let go of Kai's hand and felt his arm move, on it's own, to his left side, which sent a shock of white hot pain throughout his abdomen.

"Zane!" Kai and Cole practically threw themselves into the floor at Zane's side, each grabbing under an arm and helping the fallen Nindroid to sit up properly.

Kai unzipped Zane's jacket and carefully pulled it off of him, then lifted up the left edge of his ninja gi. Underneath was a large gash going from the left of Zane's belly button and almost all the way around his waist and to his back. There were severed wires sticking out, some sparking occasionally, and the gash seemed to be much larger toward the front than the back. Even though there was no blood, it very definitely looked like an injury, and not a good one.

"You were keeping this quiet, too?! Zane, this is a lot more than just a broken wrist now!" Kai was on the verge of shouting. He was so worried he almost looked like he might _implode_.

"I didn't know…" Zane said honestly, albeit quietly. He grunted and moved his hand to cover the wound somewhat.

"Cole, go get Nya and Jay _now_."

Cole's face had gone pale and he stood up without a word, running to the door and down the hallway.

"Nya! Jay!" He could be heard shouting.

"Zane, what _happened?_ " Kai asked, this time far more gentle.

"I… I'm not sure. When the alarm went off, I guess I was just- just startled and I… landed unconventionally, on the left side of my body…" He explained.

"What caused the wound?"

Zane looked down at his left side, wincing when he saw how bad it was. He thought hard for a moment, then remembered.

"I was holding my shuriken. In my left I landed on my hand, I guess it just pointed the weapon in the wrong direction…" He trailed off.

Without saying anything, Kai stood up and walked over to the equipment scattered over the floor and looked for Zane's shuriken. It was, ironically, wedged smack-dead in the middle of the target on the floor. There was a point on it sticking up though, on which Kai found a small bit of blue wiring.

As he turned to face Zane again, Cole, Jay, and Nya came rushing into the room.

"What happened?" Nya demanded, immediately spotting a woozy-looking Zane on the floor, hugging his side. She walked over to him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Bit of a story. Let's get him taken care of, first." Kai said, pulling out and holding up the shuriken for inspection. Nya watched him, somewhat horror struck. She turned back to Zane and began to inspect him.  
"Okay, Zane, can you stand up alright?" Nya asked. Despite being younger than all the ninja, Nya could be very motherly, and they all looked up to her in one way or another.

"I can stand up fine. I just need a hand." Zane said quietly.

Nya nodded and stood up, motioning for Jay to come over. He did so and offered the nindroid his hand. Zane accepted it and reluctantly pulled himself up, grunting as he did so.

"You okay?" Jay asked worriedly.

Zane opened his mouth to answer, preparing, once more, the words "I'm fine." However, he didn't get very far.

He stood up quickly and another wave of pain hit. He gasped and could feel his legs wobbling beneath him again.  
"Zane?" Jay asked.

"I-"

It all happened very fast. The corners of his vision started getting spotty and he became very dizzy. He was afraid of collapsing again, showing that kind of pain and inability to his friends. He turned around and desperately looked for something to steady himself as his vision continued to cloud over. A ringing started in his ears as he got dizzier and all the sounds around him began to drown out. He could vaguely hear his name being said and watched as blurry, colorful figures began to move very quickly. There was a lot of shouting and something grabbed onto his shoulders. He yelped in surprise and tried to get away. What grabbed him? He looked around and saw something brown and red standing in front of him. Who was it? What was it?! He tried to push away, unsuccessfully, and could feel himself start to panic. His spotty vision began to grow inward and all his vision went cloudy until he couldn't see anything at all.

The last thing he saw was something brown rushing up to meet him. The last thing he could feel was a wave a pain running through his side. The last thing he heard was his name.

* * *

 _Ow._

That was all that went through his head right now.

There was a dull throbbing in his side, pulsing and painful.

There was… light. Very, very bright light. He hadn't even opened his eyes all the way. Or had he?

He tested himself and opened his eyes fully, squinting and blinking as he adjusted to the bright light. He flexed his hands, wincing when he could feel how sore one of them was.

Groaning, he turned his head to the side and pushed himself up a little bit with his good hand.

"You're up!" Someone said. Zane turned his head toward the sound, at his left, and saw Kai sitting in a chair beside him.

Where was he exactly? He sat up more fully, muffling a grunt and looking around. He was in the spare room. They were originally going to use it for a guest bedroom, but it proved more useful for medical supplies and treating injured ninja.

Considering the immense pain in his side, Zane figured he probably fit into that category.

"How're you feeling?" Kai asked, pulling his chair closer.

"I'm fine." Was Zane's automatic response. It was almost reflexive for him to say the two words.

"You are not fine. I asked how you were feeling." Kai said.

"Then I 'feel' fine." He lied. Kai looked upset. Zane, in turn, felt bad about worrying him.

"I'm... alright." He said reluctantly. Kai looked skeptical but didn't say anything. His shoulders slumped and he looked worriedly at Zane.

"You don't have to be worried, Kai. There is no reason to be. It was a simple mistake and I have been damaged. It can be fixed and I'll be running properly again soon." Zane said. He hated that Kai was so worried. It was an unhealthy state to be in, and it certainly shouldn't have been over something like this.

"But I _am_ worried, Zane. You're hurt and I couldn't prevent it." Kai said.

"It was a mistake. Just an accident. A miscalculation. It was not preventable, no matter how you look at it and the damage is done either way. It's okay, though."

"How is it okay, Zane? These kinds of things take people a long time to heal."

"Yes. It would take you a long time to heal. But that is because you _are_ people. _You_ are human, whereas _I_ am just a robot-"

"NO! Zane, just NO! Don't even _start_ with that! You are _not_ _just a robot_!" Kai jumped up so quickly that his chair fell over backwards. Zane stared at him wide-eyed, surprised and almost scared.

"You are _not_ just a robot, Zane. It is not just 'damage.' You are not simply 'fixed,' or 'repaired.' It's not a 'miscalculation' or a 'mistake.' You are _not_ just a machine, and you don't purely run on electricity! You are _not_ just a robot. In fact, you're probably more human than the rest of us, and just because you found out you _were_ a robot, doesn't mean that's all you are _now_. Before you knew, you could feel pain, emotional and physical. You thought you were human. You acted human. You _were_ human. And you still are. You were built to be a companion. To be as human as possible. You were built so you _could_ feel pain, so you _could_ be injured, so you _could_ be upset! Even with your new titanium tricks, you're the same nindroid, same person, that has always been my brother, and it hurts to know that you treat yourself like a machine. We love you, Zane. We care for you. It's okay to be worried, and it's okay to let us know when you're hurt, because worrying over you is one of the greatest things we can do to show that we _care._ And you won't let us."

Kai finished his rant and left Zane in a stunned silence. Kai pulled the chair back onto all four of its legs and sat down with a sigh. He put his head in his hands and looked downward.

What he said had struck Zane. Was he really that human to them? He could remember back to when he _thought_ he was human. He sat there, going through his now jumbled thoughts, and thinking about every word Kai had said. That he wasn't just a machine. Had he really been that bad? Had he really begun to treat himself like a machine?

Zane looked at Kai and couldn't focus on anything but his expression. His eyes were downcast and he looked rejected. Worry and some form of sadness seemed so evident. How was he not letting them worry? Not letting them care for him? Kai was already worried over him, how would telling him about this damage, this _injury_ , make things any better?

He looked down at his hands. They were still rope burned. They were still… They still _hurt._ Just like Kai said. And his wrist. His side. It wasn't just the memory of pain. It wasn't him just remembering being human. He never was, except that… He always had been.

' _Worrying over you is one of the greatest things we can do to show that we care.'_

He remembered all the times that Kai had hugged him like the brother he was, or when Cole supported him after a bad fall. Jay had repaired broken wires and replaced gears countless times, and Nya was constantly bandaging his wounds, treating sprains and wrapping cuts.

They all helped him because they were worried. How could worry compel them to help? 'Worry' didn't sound right. Worry was troubling, stressful. _Why_ were they worried?

' _We love you, Zane. We care for you.'_

Zane's eyes widened in realization.

Kai still looked upset, he realized. Worried. Because he loved him?

"I'm gonna go get some lunch. Do you want anything?" Kai asked quietly. He _sounded_ unhappy, too.

Zane stayed silent. Kai sighed and turned sadly toward the door. Just as he reached the door frame, however,

"Kai?"

Kai stopped and turned around, hopeful.

"I- Um… I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Kai asked, tilting his head.

"I know I'm not just a robot." Zane said as Kai began to walk back over.

"I forget sometimes. I didn't want you to have to worry." Was all Zane could think to say.

"Oh. It's okay." Kai said, shrugging and sighing again. Just as he began to leave once more, Zane spoke up again.

"I feel… I mean… I-it actually still really hurts. I do not feel well."

To Zane's surprise, Kai's strong arms suddenly wrapped around him in a tight embrace. He held for just a second, then pulled back again, leaving his hands on Zane's shoulders.

"Thank you, Zane. I'm sorry. I know it can be hard to admit when you're hurt. I- heh- I had a really bad habit of that way back when. Is there anything I can get for you?" He asked gently.

Zane's eyes widened with curiosity and a little surprise. The 'habit' seemed to fit well with Kai's personality, but it just… hadn't occurred to the nindroid before.

"No, I'm-" Zane paused. He was going to say, 'I'm fine,' but changed his mind.

"Would you- would you mind grabbing a small blanket? And I suppose I am a little hungry." He admitted quietly, grabbing onto his arm as a shy habit of his own.

"Not a problem. You just relax." Kai said. He smiled, almost proudly, at Zane, then left the room.

A few minutes later, Kai came walking in with two steaming plates of fried rice and orange chicken, home-made by none other than Cole. It actually smelled and looked really good.

Setting the plates down, Kai turned around and walked right back out of the room. Zane stared after him in confusion for just a moment before Kai came stumbling back in with the largest, fluffiest blanket they owned. Without a word, he marched over to the flustered Zane and wrapped it around him. He pulled it, tucked it, and pat it every which way until Zane was nothing but a pile of fabric and a head. He barely even had enough room to stick his arms out so he could eat!

Kai turned around and pulled out a small collapsable work table, placing it directly in front of Zane. He grabbed one of the plates he'd brought in and set it on the table, then turned around and plopped back down into his seat, grabbing his own plate.

"Comfy?" He asked.

Zane retained a somewhat confused face, having just sat still and silently watching Kai work.

"Yes." He said slowly. Then he chuckled.

"Very." He looked at Kai and the two sat silent for a few seconds.

Then, this time surprising Kai, Zane began to laugh very heartily. It started with a chuckle, then began to grow, becoming louder periodically.

Kai joined in and the two laughed until they couldn't breathe any more, constantly having to take wheezy breaths or wipe away a stray tear.

As the laughter died down and faded into panting and faint chuckles, a contented aura filled the room.

* * *

The rest of the evening was filled with visiting ninja, two relieved Sensei, and a stubborn Kai, who refused to leave the room until Zane was ready to sleep. They reminisced old adventures and watched cheesy movies up to that point, when Zane's eyelids began to grow heavy, and his head to droop.

"You'll be alright tonight, Zane?" Kai asked, half out the doorway. Zane would be spending the night on the old couch tonight, despite his complaints.

"I'll be fine." Zane reassured. He'd been treated, fed, and fussed over all day. Now, he was just tired.

"Okay. Take it easy, alright?"

"I will, Kai. Don't worry." Zane shook his head. He smiled at Kai.

"Zane? Promise me something?" Kai paused a moment, his expression becoming somewhat pained again.

"Just don't forget. Don't forget that you're like us. That you're not a machine. Don't forget that it's okay for us to worry. Just remember… That you are as human as we are." Kai said.

After a small silence, Zane nodded.

"I promise. I won't forget. Never again."

Kai smiled.

"Good night, Zane."

"Good night, Kai."

The lights flickered off and Zane was left alone for the night.

He wouldn't forget. He would remember.

Zane is a nindroid. He is an android. He is a ninja. But he is not a robot, and he is not a machine.

Realization to all of this hit like a freight train, and it took a nearly fatal injury for him to find this new kind of trust in his brothers and to step beyond his own comfort zone. To realize that being hurt was okay, that worrying was okay.

And he never even realized that he'd begun to treat himself like a machine. He never realized that he was forgetting that once, he was human too. Even though he was an android then, too, he was human. That's what he and his brothers believed. That he was human.

That he _is_ …

Human.

* * *

Foo! That was a bit lengthier than originally intended, but maybe that's a good thing? Anyway, thanks for reading it! Now, let me just recap what I put in the introductory A/N: I have a one-shots collection which starts with this one shot! It's not updating properly, so no one is seeing my writing, which is really disappointing. If you liked this one-shot, please find my collection and read what's in it, then help me get FanFiction's attention so we can fix this problem. It's frustrating enough for me, just imagine all your favorite fanfiction authors having the same problem! To tempt you, I take one-shot requests, but only **in** the collection! Head on over there, help me get some readers, and request a one-shot! Anyway, thank you so much, guys!

-LizzyLucky


End file.
